Lost Girl and the Lost Room
by Joshua The Evil Guy
Summary: AU from pre-Season 1 of LG. Bo has been running for a long time, and while running, she was given the Key. She rescues Kenzi and barely escapes Dyson and Hale, but that is only the beginning of when this Lost Girl gets found. Spoilers for LG Pilot. One-Shot!


Title: Lost Girl and the Lost Room

Author: Joshua

Disclaimer: Lost Girl and all associated creatures/characters are owned by Prodigy Pictures and Shaw Media, though it was created by Michelle Lovretta. Spoilers for the Lost Girl pilot episode _It's a Fae, Fae, Fae World_ for the first half of the story, then it goes way AU big time. SyFy, formerly the SciFi Channel, most likely owns the TV mini-series _The Lost Room_, though it was created by Christopher Leone and Laura Harkcom. Other than mentions of Joe (and a brief cameo at the end), the only crossover from the Lost Room is going to be the Objects, and of course the Room.

Summary: AU from pre-Season 1 of LG. Bo has been running for a long time, and while running, she was given the Key. She rescues Kenzi and barely escapes Dyson and Hale, but that is only the beginning of when this Lost Girl gets found.

Story:

It was the late shift, her second week on the job, she was tired and hungry, and this bozo was hitting on her. Badly. All in all, it was a typical Saturday night for her, or at least it has been for the past decade give or take a few years on either side. Her hunger spiked, and not the craving for a whopper with cheese. The... _other_ Hunger.

Ignoring the creep in front of her, she reached into her pocket with one hand, while serving drinks with the other. Feeling the Object there, she squeezed it tight and breathed a shallow sigh of relief as the Hunger ebbed, just a bit, not entirely, but enough that she could keep it together for a while longer. Stepping back from the bar, facing the mirror to hide her actions, she notched the Watch on her wrist a bit tighter, and made sure that her eyes weren't glowing, and above all else were still brown rather than blue.

Sure, it might be close to cutting off circulation in her hand and arm, but if it kept her in control for a few minutes more before she got back to the Room, where her hunger would disappear entirely, it was worth it.

Turning back around, she grimaced at the creep that was still there, but now holding up his drink in her direction. Sad fact of life, despite that it obviously a grimace and she really didn't want to be talking to him, her nature made it look to everyone around her like she was smiling beautifully, like a model, and there was nothing she could do about that. Especially not when she was hungry.

Her boss came through with the extra cases needed from the stock, forcing her to back up against the bar while he squeezed past. She had to take her eyes off the creep behind her, not to mention deal with her creep of a boss taking the opportunity to feel her up as he passed, and her instincts were telling her it was not a good idea to lose track of creepazoid #1 for even a second.

"And this, darlin'," he was holding up the second drink he'd ordered as she turned around, "is for you."

She smiled disarmingly and ignored the offered glass. She didn't know anything for certain, but she knew his type after all these years, and it wouldn't surprise her to learn if he had spiked it with something. "Sorry, I can't. Company policy," she lied with practiced ease. Then she turned and went back to her job, even going over to another customer that didn't actually need anything.

Still, the bad feeling in her gut, and this time it wasn't her Hunger, wouldn't go away, so she kept him in the corner of her eye, just in case. Unsurprising, not two seconds after he'd crashed and burned with her, he turned his attention to a young smoky-eyed platinum blond that had just walked up to the end of the bar. When he left his spot and zeroed in on her like a homing missile, she turned from keeping him in the side of her eye, to keeping both eyes on him. Just in case, of course.

They spoke, he offered her a drink, she smirked – smirked, not smiled, important difference – at him and downed the drink in one go before leaning across him to put the drink down on the bar. She then turned and left, this time giving him a smile of condescension along with a pat on the shoulder as a parting shot. If the creep had any insight into the woman psyche whatsoever, he would've been crushed and humbly moved on to the next target. Instead, he finished his own drink and then slowly followed after the girl.

Bo knew where this was going. She'd seen it before, had even been the target once or twice before. It never ended well. The question was, however, was she going to do anything about it _now_?

Right at that moment, almost in answer to her silent question, her Hunger returned, and in such a way that she knew she'd put it off as long as the Objects would allow her to. Although, she could control herself for a little while longer, it wouldn't matter in the end. She had to feed, tonight. And hey, why not do a little good with the evil that was... whatever the hell she was, or did?

Kenzi McAdams, aka Kenzi Rogers, aka Kenzi Somersby, aka Kenzi Williams, aka Ninotchka Alexandrovich, hurried over to the elevator after having collected her 'quota' for the evening. Although, in hindsight, she recognized that she probably shouldn't have had that last drink as it was going straight to her head without any of the fun party stops along the way. She hit the button and stood by to wait patiently. Unfortunately, just after, the last guy that she'd pocketed came rushing around the corner, stopping just as he came within sight.

She rolled her eyes and gave him the cold shoulder.

He saw this of course and responded as he came up beside her, "Aw c'mon, you can't get rid of me that easy." He put a little extra emphasis into his accent as he took the opportunity to move closer.

"Any inside tips?" she snarled, turning back to the elevator, hoping it would provide her salvation.

Looking around briefly to make sure the coast was clear and that he wouldn't be interrupted, he asked her, "Hey where ya headin' to? Any good parties?" He then stepped closer and got within her personal space as he reached over to hit the same elevator button she'd already hit a few times. "Cause I've got a few hours I would love to kill."

"Yeah, good luck with that," Kenzi said, trying to reign in her temper and keep it cool.

A wave of euphoria, or maybe disorientation would be a better word, swept over her and she tried to shake it off. He leaned in closer, getting a good sniff, but she caught him at it and elbowed him, trying to get him to back off. He smirked and backed off, but not far. Thankfully at that moment the elevator chimed and the doors opened.

Kenzi rushed in and immediately hit the button for the lobby, while he strolled in like he owned the damn thing and went to the far corner. She stayed close to the buttons, as far away from the creep as she could possibly get within the confined space. Unfortunately, as the elevator began its descent, the disorientation she was feeling and trying to fight off earlier, combined with the dropping floating sensation of the elevator damn near overwhelmed her. The music they had playing in this tin can on a string wasn't helping much either.

"You sure are a pretty little thing, aren't ya?" he commented from his corner.

"Gross," she growled at him. "Back off or I'll vom!"

Moments later, what had threatened to overwhelm her now did and she near collapsed against her corner of the small room, barely getting her hands out soon enough to catch her. "Whoa," she mumbled to herself. "Why am I tripping? What was in that drink?!" she snapped at him.

"Oh, just a little somethin to make you a little bit friendlier," he answered like he roofied girls on a daily basis, which for all she knew at the moment maybe he did. "We are friends, aren't we?" he asked as he started to move over to her corner.

By this point Kenzi couldn't tell you what was up, down, or even what her own name was. When he pulled her around, she didn't have it in her to resist, too dizzy and tripping out on whatever drug he'd spiked her drink with. She tried to raise her arms, but it was feebly done.

"Come on baby, just a little kiss," he teased, moving in for the kill, so to speak.

"Back off creep-o," she finally managed to raise her arms and tried to use them to push him away, but it ended up with her being the one pushed back, practically slammed into the wall of the elevator and all he'd done was just stand there, laughing at her.

Suddenly, the elevator dinged, indicating that it was stopping on a call button. Quickly realizing what this meant, the creep backed up to the corner opposite the insensate girl, preparing his mask of innocence. Imagine his surprise when he found the alluring, raven-haired bartender standing there as the doors opened. Realizing that she might have caught him at what he was playing, he kept quiet and just nodded and kept his head down when she gave him the evil eye. She stepped in to the elevator and hit the button for the parking garage. Taking a look at the blond in the corner, she asked, "You good?"

Kenzi, definitely not able to remember her own name by this point, barely managed to croak out, "A OK," and give the thumbs up sign at the same time. As it was, that effort took more out of her than she thought as she lurched against the side of the elevator. That, or it was because the damn thing had started moving again, making her even more disoriented than before.

Turning on the blond's would-be-attacker, Bo turned on the charm as she smiled at him and said, "You," she reached out and grabbed his tie and began to suggestively wrap it around her hand, drawing him closer, "are very naughty. Left without saying goodbye. Don'tcha know when a girl's playing hard ta get?" she gave some of his Southern drawl back at him. From the look on his face, he liked it. They shared a brief laugh, which ended rather quickly.

"What do you want?" he asked, hoping to negotiate his way out of the situation.

"Hm, just one little kiss," she whispered, unknowingly repeating his earlier words to Kenzi. But it was too late as she was already drawing closer, and he wasn't the type to push away anyway.

They kissed and it was over, for him.

Kenzi, unable to keep up the fight for her balance against the elevator and gravity, finally just slid down against the wall to the floor. But she didn't really care about that as her full attention was on what was going on right in front of her. She still had enough presence of mind to pull out her phone and start up the video camera. Hey, she may not have been able to stand, or even remember her name properly, but she was a child of her generation and operating camera phones was easier than second nature to them. "This is so gonna be viral!"

Creep began to moan and groan as the kiss lingered. Suddenly his eyes shot open as his whole body was flooded with pleasure. It was indescribable to him, but he liked it and wanted more, despite the feeling of draining that accompanied the overwhelming pleasure. Bo's eyes flashed neon blue and suddenly she shoved him against the far wall and intensified the kiss, feeling the guy shake and spasm beneath her. Knowing from experience that he'd just had an orgasm, she slowly pulled away, the last visible streams of energy still sliding from his open, smiling mouth to hers. She took a final drag and as the life literally faded from his eyes, burns and necrosis coloring his face, she dropped him and let him slide down to the floor of the elevator, her hunger finally sated after five months, the blue in her eyes slowly reverting back to her natural brown.

Right on time, the doors to the elevator opened on the parking garage and Bo turned and quickly made to leave. Before she'd gotten even three steps out of the elevator, however, the blond girl, still drugged out of her mind, leaned over and called, "Hey! What about me?"

Sighing, rolling her eyes, Bo briefly wrestled with her conscience, but it wasn't exactly much of a struggle as she turned back and bodily picked up the younger, smaller girl in a fireman's cradle and took her with. She smothered a laugh when she heard the girl call over her shoulder, "Bye-bye Mister Smiley Face!"

Probably a better fate than the creep deserved, but either way, Bo felt she'd done the world a service this night. Now she just had to get out of town before Johnny Law caught up to her again. Or worse, one of the Cabals...

Good thing she didn't drive her mustang to work tonight. Heading over the the maintenance/janitor closet on this floor of the garage, she tried to see if she could identify any security cameras pointed directly at the door or her as she went to it. There were a few pointed at the elevator, she'd noticed, but thankfully none at the closet she was heading toward. After making sure the girl over her shoulder was finally out for the count, she loosened the strap on the Watch and then with a final glance around, pulled out the Key and slid it home into the tumbler lock of the closet door, which wasn't even locked.

The knob turned and warm sunlight streamed through the crack in the door. She opened it, pulled out the Key, and then stepped inside the Lost Room with the girl she had just saved. When the door slammed shut, there was no trace of either woman having ever been there, save for the dead creep still lying there on the floor of the elevator.

Fifteen minutes later, the body was found and the police were called. As it just so happened, this particular case fell into the laps of two of the Department's heavy closers. What cases they got, they closed within a few days, a week tops. Those few cases that weren't officially closed, well those were the weird ones that nobody wanted, and they still got closed, just not... officially.

Detectives Dyson and Hale were likeable, but aloof Homicide Detectives with the 39th Division, the type of partners you normally either see on TV shows or fantasy land. They were as opposite as you could get, but for whatever reason, they were the best of friends and they worked well together. Dyson was tall, white, gruff, and came from humble beginnings and on paper was what most Rookie Cops joined the Force to be like, and was every Sergeant's and Lieutenant's worst headache. Hale was short, black, well-groomed, came from money, his blood as blue as the sky and was everybody's best friend as everyone who met him just found themselves liking him after talking with him in the first few minutes.

They were also Fae. Both worked for the Light and had been placed on the Force in order to help maintain the Light's position within the city. Dyson was a Wolf Shifter, Hale was a Siren. Within the first two seconds of seeing the body, they both knew it was a kill from a Fae Feeding, and thus the other reason why they were on the Homicide Squad instead of on fast tracks to Captain or Commissioner. To cover up the mess when somebody, Light or Dark, got sloppy. Until they got a lead, however, they both did their jobs but made sure that they were the first informed with the evidence and any possible leads on a suspect. They had to find whoever did this, fast, and bring them before the Ash, or it would be their heads.

_Clubhouse_

Bo didn't hesitate once she situated Kenzi on the couch of her little clubhouse. It was actually a foreclosed rundown shack that had probably been in the middle of renovations when the bank ceased the deed to the place. First thing she did when coming to a new city, aside from check to make sure there were no Objects or Cabals nearby to sneak up on her, was to go around and Seduce the various property owners and find their 'problem case' and literally take it off their hands. They just signed it off as sold to the government, or demolished or sold for pennies on the dollar or some bank legal thing and she was in the clear. Until it was time to move on again that is.

Sure, she mused as she stripped off the uniform for the bar tending job she'd basically just walked out on, she could spend all her time and basically live in the Room, but then her Hunger would return. Inside the Room, the Objects weren't _Objects_, they were just things. Which meant that they couldn't stave off her Hunger like they did when she wore them in the real world. Before she happened upon the Objects, she'd been killing at least twice a month, sometimes through random attacks like what had happened tonight, other time she met someone, seduced them, got to know them, and then suddenly lost control and woke up next to a corpse come morning. And then she met Joe.

That was a whole other story though, she shook her head and grabbed a quick shower, needing it after dealing with the creep from before. Then she dried herself off with the Coat, and at the same time, thanks to what the Coat does, dressed herself in her 'Running' outfit. She went about the ramshackle dive and collected everything that she would need. Fake Ids, money, clothes, stray Objects, etc. Then, once she had everything, she used the Key and opened the Room and tossed in everything she'd been wearing that night that could possibly tie her to the murder, a hard lesson she'd learned a few years back, and then reset the Room. Better and more reliable than burning it that's for sure.

Everything taken care of, she made her way back downstairs and tried to sneak past her house guest. True, she could have just used the Room and gone straight to Joe, wherever in the world he was, or to some place like Tahiti or Siberia even, but there was nothing on this Earth that would make her give up her ride that easily. Unfortunately, as practiced as she was at cleaning up after herself, that said nothing about her cleaning skills in general, as demonstrated when she tripped on an empty bottle on the floor, making enough noise that the blond wig wearing girl, who actually had straight black hair as it turns out, woke up.

"Hwha, whatsitwhoder?" she blurted as she startled awake.

"Shit," Bo sighed and rolled her eyes before plastering a smile on her face and slowly turning around.

"Sorry, I was just leaving," she said, holding out her hands in the universal gesture of 'Don't Attack Me'.

The girl immediately shot to her feet, while somehow still recoiling from her, crawling backwards to keep the couch between them as she demanded all in one breath, "Where am I who are you?"

"OK, just calm down, you're OK," Bo said, trying to keep the girl from freaking out for as long as possible. "You passed out last night. Would've dropped you at home, but none of these wallets appear to be yours. It's a nice little sideline you got going."

The girl sat back down on the couch, her expression the epitome of a five-year-old caught with their hand in the cookie jar as she lamely tried to excuse her obvious thievery with, "I'm a... collector of... rare wallets?"

Bo shrugged, tossing the pieces of leather down on the couch beside her. "I'm not judging. I'm glad you're OK." She turned to leave, intending on driving her baby to the next city over and get set up somewhere new. She was stopped when the girl called out to her, inadvertently tugging on her heart strings as she did.

"I... I-I-I, uh, I, bwha-I d-don't f-feel OK!" she stammered, sounding desperate and scared. "What happened last night? Did somebody slip me something?"

_OK Bo, lying time, don't screw it up_, she thought as she turned back around and said, "Yeah, some creep from the bar spiked your drink and, heh, and you hallucinated a lot of weird stuff I bet."

"So you didn't, erhrm, you didn't... eat some dude's face in an elevator?" she asked.

"No, there was no 'eating of faces'." Bo squelched the instinct to run our the door and tried to keep her expression believably unbelieving as possible. She added for good measure, "Wow, that's crazy."

"Thank god! That was some creepy ass shit!" Kenzi said with relief as she pulled out her phone. Hallucinations or not, she remembered taping something, hoping she got a shot of the guy for blackmail so she could probably blackmail him for some... holy shit, Holy Shit, HOLY *_FREAKING_* SHIT!

Bo saw it happening and could hear it even as she watched the girl check her phone and playback the last thing recorded with it. "Ugh, kids and your camera phones!" she growled, moving forward to grab it, but the girl was on her feet before she could reach and was already racing around to the other side of the couch by the time she made it to where she'd been sitting.

"Don't freak out!" she shouted.

"I'm freaking out!" Kenzi shouted back, starting to hyperventilate.

"What did I just say?" Bo exclaimed.

"How can I not freak out?! Have you _seen_ you?!" the now very pale raven-haired girl yelled at her.

"Yes!" Bo answered honestly, all out of patience.

"Did you _kill_ him?" she was definitely hyperventilating now.

"Just slow down!" Bo said angrily, trying to reign in her temper and keep things from getting worse. If only she could get close enough...

"Oh my god! Are you gonna kill me?" the girl began to cower behind the couch all over again.

"Y'know, that is just stupid, why would I save you just to..." Bo started to argue, but noticed that her opponent was having more than a little trouble breathing and in fact was turning a little blue in the face, as in literally. "Are you OK?"

"I... don't... know..." Kenzi gasped between labored and somewhat exaggerated breaths. "Can you _get_ asthma? I think I'm totally getting asthma here!"

"Just breathe..." she moved to help the girl, but said girl instantly skittered away like a frightened animal, still keeping the couch between them. Bo threw up her hands and said, "Fine. I don't need this. I have to blow town, after saving your ass, and find somewhere else to live. You're welcome, by the way!"

"Excuse me, lady – person..." she called out, suddenly more afraid at being left alone with her crazy thoughts that having the . . . who or whatever she was killer stick around.

"It's Bo."

"Hi," she waved as she finally stepped around from behind the couch. "Kenzi. Look, I'm sorry. You're obviously very nice for, uh... whatever you are. Um, I just had the scariest, weirdest night of my life, so can we please just talk about this like _normal people_?"

"I think it's fairly clear that I'm not exactly normal," Bo replied.

"_Good_!" Kenzi exclaimed, actually smiling. "Good, because normal people do not help out strangers! If you were _normal_... I could be dead! I won't tell anyone! Please? I totally promise, OK, just give me like twenty minutes. Twenty minutes and you will never, ever, ever, _ever_ have to ever see me again, ever! Please?"

"That depends," Bo said as she stepped closer to the distraught young woman, a strangely intense look on her face, one that succeeded in intimidating her very well as a matter of fact. "Do you like milkshakes?"

_Diner_

_15 Minutes Later_

"Are you just going to stare at me?" Bo inquired before slurping down the last of her chocolate milkshake.

"Mmhm, I'm sorry," Kenzi apologized, before reluctantly continuing. "By the way, I know things could gave gotten really messed up for me last night if you hadn't shown up, so, thanks."

More than a little surprised to actually be thanked for her little act of lethal good samaritism, Bo shrugged and replied with, "Oh, well, um, you're welcome."

For the longest moment, the two just stared at each other, waiting for their companion to say something to continue the conversation. Bo, rather new at having somebody that knew about... well, at least one of her dark secrets, was still kind of in shock and couldn't think of anything to actually say, one way or another. Kenzi, on the opposite end of the spectrum, was burning with millions of questions, she just didn't know where to begin. Well, she did know where to begin, she just couldn't think of a way to say it without sounding like a total spaz. Finally, for one of them, their patience snapped.

"OK! Screw it, I gotta know!" Kenzi proclaimed as she quickly grabbed a clean napkin and a pen and started scribbling on it as fast as her hand could fly. "Some things are too stupid to say out loud, so... here!" she said as she wrote it out and then plopped the napkin with the first burning question in front of Bo.

Reading it, she saw a single multiple-choice question, albeit with only two choices, saying; 'I am a demon' – or – 'I am a alien' with check boxes beside each. Bo couldn't help it, she actually laughed. She hadn't had much opportunity in recent years to genuinely smile, let alone laugh. It was nice.

"Heh, you, are a tool," she told Kenzi. "And, I don't know what the hell I am. Honestly just a freak, I guess. Does it matter?"

"_Kinda_!" the younger girl exclaimed. "I mean, what exactly did you _do_ to him?"

"It's hard to explain, I, uh, I sort of, um, uh, I..." Bo grimaced briefly and hesitated a bit before finally whispering her reply, "I sort of, _drain_ people."

"Oh my god! Are you a –" Kenzi exclaimed and then quickly lowered her voice and leaned forward to whisper when she realized she was a bit loud and she did _not _want people hearing what she was going to say next, "Dude, are you a _freaking vampire_?"

"No!" Bo answered immediately, trying to collect her thoughts well enough to explain properly. "_No_! No, it's not like that. OK, it has nothing to do with blood, its um, its this... _Hunger_. That builds and builds and eventually I... do what I did last night."

"So you can't control it?" Kenzi asked with growing sympathy.

"No."

"Wow, that's shitty. No, I'm serious, that's like no way to live. You should really work on that."

Bo smiled and shook her head. "Thanks. So, are we done with the show and tell? Cause I really gotta get going?" She eyed the approaching waitress as the young Asian girl approached with the check.

"Can I get you anything else?" the petite girl in pink shirt and apron skirt asked, holding out the check.

"No, we're good," Bo answered out of habit. Then she seemed to do a double-take as she reached out and took the girl by the wrist, under the premise of taking the check. "I'm, I'm a little short, right now, if there's uh any way I could come back some time and make it up to you?" she asked while pouring her power into the girl, making her breathless with arousal within moments.

"Gawd! Yes!" the waitress gasped, biting her lip from how hot she felt.

Smirking, Bo acknowledged that the check had been 'taken care of', and stood up, putting her Coat back on and making her way to the door. Behind her, Kenzi was staring in wide-eyed amazement and outright shock.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Kenzi exclaimed as she chased the taller brunette, who was walking away with a bit of a sultry strut, not looking back even once. "Hold up, woman! What, what the _hell_ was _that_? No, I'm serious, what was that?" She, unlike Bo, briefly looked back and saw the waitress standing there, lip still bit and a look in her eye that you usually saw in old movies were the leading ladies spent ninety percent of the movie pining and swooning for the male protagonist. "Oh my god!" she couldn't help exclaiming as she followed Bo out the door.

As they left the diner, Bo gave the girl an abbreviated and simplified explanation of the extra abilities she had discovered that came with her curse. Needless to say, Kenzi accepted it with a bit of aplomb.

"You're saying you can _seduce_ someone into doing _anything_ just by _touching_ them?" she exclaimed as they walked down the street to the lot where Bo had parked her car.

"Sorta," Bo answered with a shrug. "It wears off and takes a lot out of me, but yeah."

"But you're broke, you live in a crack shack, and you run from town to town? What are you doing _wrong_, girl? God, that is not the life for a _sex superhero_!" Kenzi shouted, throwing her arms up in outrage.

"Haha, you know I think I liked you better when you were scared of me," said Bo rather sarcastically.

"No. What you need is some kind of manager! I nominate me." Kenzi even went and raised her hand, bypassing some hobo on the street, after taking a look in his cup to see if there was anything actually worth swiping from him, but there wasn't.

"Shocking! And no thanks."

"Give me a chance! And we would make a _good_ team!" Kenzi begged, her mind already racing on how she could actually convince this amazing person to take her on. A few different con ideas flitted through her mind, though honestly she hoped that she wouldn't have to resort to them.

"OK, look." Bo stopped and turned on the younger woman with a hard look. "This isn't a joke! Has it occurred to you that hanging out with a homicidal freak _might_ not be the best move for you?"

"Has it occurred to _you_ that I'm capable of making that decision for myself? 'Homicidal freak', god, you are _so_ emo!" Kenzi countered with ease, and more than a bit of amusement.

"Excuse me?" Bo snapped, turning to keep walking at double the speed.

"Learn to _enjoy_ your shit already! You can freaking _control people_ by touch! And not in a creepy hand job way. That is _awesome_!"

"Fine." Bo paused as she casually noticed a tall, rather rugged man in a generous amount of tight leather, pass by her and give her an intense look. She was used to such looks, but something about this guy caught _her_ eye, but she had to get rid of the hanger-on first. She decided to go with logic to start with since fear and common sense weren't doing much for her. "Fine, let's say I take you with me. What's in it for you?"

"Out here? Survival. Mama always said, 'Find the toughest kid on the playground and make friends with them.' You are _definitely_ the toughest kid on this playground, and it would kick ass to be your friend."

"I don't know." Bo was almost convinced, but was still reluctant. She'd been on her own for so long that being... responsible for another life was scary in and of itself. By this point they had made it to the alley parking spot where she'd parked her baby, and she needed to start thinking of her next destination anyway. Going back to the crap shack, as Kenzi had called it, was not exactly at the top of her list, but she didn't have any other safe houses in this city. There was... one place, but that was always and forever a last resort and it was dangerous, to say the least, for someone like her to go there.

"Come on, every superhero needs a partner. Let me be your Robin!" Kenzi was pulling out all the stops now, sounding more like a whiny four year old rather than a streetwise twenty year old.

"I'll think about it," Bo finally relented, her hand on the car door, when something made her stop and turn around. Kenzi noticed them at the same time. It was the same rugged hottie in tight leather she'd noticed moments before, and at his side was a smooth looking black guy in a suit and hat. For the longest moment, the two pairs just stared across the alley at each other, waiting to see who would make the first move. Apparently the boys were the impatient sort as the first move was theirs.

"Take them," tall, shaggy and primal ordered.

"Here we go," short, smooth and black replied, pursing his lips.

She felt it before anything else. Certainly before she could hear it, considering that it was subsonic. She saw Kenzi keel over, holding her ears as her own started to ache and she felt a surge of nausea shoot through her. She had felt this a few times before, mostly from that freak with the fucking wedding ring, which when tapped against any metal surface unleashed a...

"Sonic attack," Bo muttered to herself, already acting, even as she saw her new friend pass out and the black man turn his attentions to her. Quickly, without wasting any time, she pulled the Lighter out of her pocket and flicked it once. Everything went quiet. Dead quiet, or to be more accurate, deaf quiet. That's what the Lighter does, you see, when flicked, it stops all sound within a limited radius for a limited amount of time. Four and a half seconds to be precise.

Having little time and not about to waste it, Bo grabbed Kenzi in a fireman's cradle and raced down the alley as fast as she could possibly move. Which, considering she'd just fed last night was pretty damn fast. She saw a door into the next building down, bolted shut, but that wouldn't be a problem for her. She'd put the Socks on the wrong feet this morning when getting dressed. Handy as super speed could be, she had learned through bad experience that sometimes a bit more strength was more useful.

The world came back on and she got a little bit of vertigo along with the hyper-sensitivity to noise after having had her sense of hearing taken away and then returned so quickly. She could hear the two arguing as they ran after her, the tall guy insulting his partner about his skill and said partner trying to defend himself and blaming animal guy for not having intelligence, in every definition of the word. Thankfully she got to the door before they could get into position to try their trick again. Just to be on the safe side, as she pulled out the Key and slid it home into the tumbler lock of the bolted door, she flicked the Lighter one more time and pushed open the door. The light from the Motel Room shone from the crack as the bolts were torn free and despite not hearing them, she sensed the two men come up short. She stepped across the threshold with Kenzi over her shoulder and then took the time to look back and see exactly who was chasing her this time.

The sound came back, but she and her friend were already inside and the door ready to be closed.

"Dyson. What the fu—?" the black guy asked, but was interrupted.

"I... don't know Hale," the white guy replied, just as stunned. "I don't know."

"Name's Bo," she told them, closing the door as she spoke. "Don't forget it. And don't you dare do anything to my car!" The door slammed shut and she was safe.

She let out a sigh of relief and felt Kenzi stir in her arms. Carefully she set the girl down on the Bed and reconsidered everything that had just happened. So much for keeping some secrets from her new... partner? Minion? Friend? Well, whatever she was, they were in this together now, for better, or for worse.

_Back In The Alley..._

"Name's Bo. Don't forget it. And don't you dare do anything to—!" the Fae they'd been chasing shouted at them as the door with the odd halo coming from it closed on her, cutting off the end there.

Hale looked at Dyson. Dyson looked back a Hale.

"D, man," the siren asked, "What the hell just happened?"

"I'm... not sure," the wolf shifter replied. "Wait here a sec," he said, inching forward towards the door where the two chicks had just disappeared in a decidedly supernatural fashion. At the door, he took a good long sniff, recognizing the scents of the two he and Hale had spent most of the night tracking down. The bolts and everything that had been keeping the door shut were still hanging loose, torn from their moorings. That spoke of serious strength, he'd have to be careful of this one. Taking a step back, he kicked the door in, half expecting to be blinded by that same halo of light, but instead there was only darkness.

He shifted his eyes as he stepped inside, and saw the dark and dusty storage room of the building he'd just broken into. Looked to be some kind of club or restaurant that went out of business more than a few years back. Whats more, by shifting his eyes he also shifted his nose, so every breath gave him a full scent analysis, and the really weird part was that the two girls scents? They were gone. They had been at the door, both Hale and him had seen them walk through it, but wherever that door had taken them, it had not been into this storage room. Something wasn't right here.

"Yo D, they in there? You got them? Need some back-up?" Hale called from the alley.

Dyson walked out, a look of extreme frustration and mild anger on his face.

"They're gone," he stated with a single look at his partner.

"That is... not good," the siren said with a sigh. "What are we gonna tell the Ash?"

"Nothing. Yet," Dyson replied. "We told him we were going to find the Fae and bring her to him, and that is what we'll do. Until that happens, we don't talk to anybody about what just happened here."

"How is that going to work?" Hale argued as they made their way back to their cruiser. "We don't know what it is she just pulled. It could be her talent, it could be magic, it could be she's connected with somebody or something that is protecting her and we just stepped in it _big time_! We kinda need to ask around about her."

"I've got someone that might be able to give us some answers," Dyson acknowledged. "Someone trustworthy, and who will keep it quiet. If she is connected, then he may be able to find out to who, and how."

"All right then, so where to?" Hale asked, no longer depressed.

"The Dal," Dyson stated, already behind the driver's seat of the car.

Hale looked at the space where his partner had been standing for a second or two before rolling his eyes and getting in the car. "Dyson, man, we gotta talk about your priorities sometime."

_The Motel Room_

Kenzi woke up, or more like came to, on the bed and didn't know where she was or how she got here. She hadn't been out that long, not even a full minute even, but from everything around her, she could say with absolute certainty that was was not in Toronto anymore.

"Hey," Bo said from her seat in the corner.

"Wha—what happened? Who were those guys? Where are we and how did we even get here?" she asked in a rush, sitting up suddenly.

"Whoa, easy there," Bo urged. "In order, we were attacked, I have no clue who they were except that they scoped us out before attacking, and as for the last two, that is complicated."

"Well _un_complicate it partner!" Kenzi insisted, looking around with a slightly panicked eye. "How long was I out anyway?"

"Not even a full minute," Bo shrugged. "Sonic attack like that disorients and nauseates, but the body recuperates quick once it stops. I got us out as quick as I could."

"Son... _sonic_ attack?" Kenzi repeated, her eyes bulging. "You really are a superhero!"

"Not exactly," Bo laughed, though there was no humor in it. "Like I said it's... complicated."

They sat in silence, staring at each other before ultimately Kenzi's patience worn out and she replied, "I am all ears. And I promise, no unnecessary interruptions!"

Bo smiled and sighed, but nodded her head. She reached into her pocket and pulled out what looked to Kenzi's eyes like an ordinary motel key from like the 1960's.

"This is an Object," she began. "There are a few hundred Objects all together, and each and every one of them can do something different. Something... supernatural. The Key," she waved it in the air, "grants access to the Motel Room," she gestured at their surroundings. "The Motel Room is... well, let me put it like this, as long as you have this, when you step out that door," she nodded toward the exit, "you can find yourself walking out of any door in the world."

Kenzi blinked, stunned. "For realz?"

"Think about it for a second," Bo smiled again, sitting back and holding the Key with both hands. "_Any_ door. Inside the White House, the Pentagon, Fort Knox. Or even locked doors inside a booked out hotel suite, or your own house. Anywhere, everywhere, no limits. If there is a door, this Key can take you there."

"That's... that's... that is..." Kenzi couldn't think of anything to say, and that was definitely a first for her.

"That's big. And it's just the tip of the iceberg," she expanded. She held up the Watch still on her wrist, though now strapped more comfortably than the night they'd first met. "Put an egg inside the strap, hard boils the egg. Put anything else in the strap, nothing at all happens." She then pulled out the Lighter and the Knife. "Stops sound for four seconds when you flick it. Other than being a pretty handy folding knife with a single blade, if you stick it in something and twist it around, whatever you stuck it in gets turned inside out." Finally she gestured at her outfit, fingering the Coat, Shirt, and Belt in order. "All Objects, each with their own unique little trick. Whats more is that they can then work together and sort of combine and show off different tricks. This and this," she pointed to the Knife and Watch, "can give me telepathy so I can hear everybody around that is thinking specifically about me."

"Oh! That's how you knew they were scoping us out, how they were about to attack!" Kenzi gushed.

Bo shook her head. "The Objects... _attract_ one another. Well, save for _one_ exception. The more I use the Objects, the stronger the—pardon the pun—attraction between them and before too long other people with Objects will show up. Just because I have them and keep them with me does not mean I use them all the time. We drove to the diner, in case you hadn't noticed. In the past month, I have used the Key exactly eleven times, counting right now. As for the other Objects, I don't use them at all. The Lighter and... well let's just say that I only use the others when I absolutely have to."

"Wow, this is, uh this is starting to sound kind of heavy," Kenzi said.

Bo nodded, putting away her Object show and tell for the moment.

"Hundreds, if not a full thousand supernatural Objects floating around, each with a unique trick, some of them able to be combined to use extra tricks? You see what people are like with drugs and guns, imagine the people out there that know about this?"

Kenzi actually shrank in on herself as the thoughts ran through her brain. "I think I just became pro-anti-violence," she whispered.

"There are these... _Cabals_ out there," Bo continued. "Overall, the ones most everyone talks about are the Collectors, the Legion, and the Order. The Collectors were the first ones to discover the Objects and probably collected most all of them. The Legion are ordinary people that see the threat the Objects are and mostly just want to lock them up and see that they never get used by anyone, not even themselves. The Order, well, they call themselves the Order of the Reunification."

"Let me guess," Kenzi interrupted. "Crazy cult bent on hoarding the whole kit'n'kaboodle and then worshiping it at some alter?"

Bo shrugged. "Beats me. I do my best to steer clear of them. Especially since they got a new boss, somebody they call the Prophet. General consensus is that the Order thinks all the Objects are like pieces of God and want to bring them all together and meet God after they do. But like I said, I try to steer clear."

"After the three main Cabals, there are the individuals. People, singular people, that have managed to obtain a number of Objects and are actually able to hold onto them for a length of time."

"People like you," Kenzi pointed out. She nodded her head. "I knew it!"

"I'm the one with the Key," Bo went on. "Obviously the Key is very powerful, and very useful. There are a few others out there. One in particular, he's the one that gave me the Key. He's... well, that's another story. For right now, we have to start making plans."

"Plans? What plans? Why do we need to make plans? Why can't we just run off to Bora Bora?" Kenzi asked. "I mean, we can, right?"

"What part of, the more you use the Objects, the more they attract other Objects did you miss?" Bo sarcastically retorted. "We need to find out who is after me, or you, or us, and why. Then we decide what to do about it."

"We?" Kenzi repeated with a growing smile.

Bo smiled back and stood up. "We," she said.

"Awesome! I'm in! What's the first step?"

_Mansion of the Ash_

"What do you mean, you lost her?" the Ash asked, his voice as quiet as ever, but with an undercurrent of rage.

Dyson and Hale were on their knees before the Leader of the Light. They'd been told to report in, and despite having found no trace of their target, they had no excuse not to. When the Ash confronted them with their failure, Hale unfortunately could not keep his big mouth shut.

"We... lost her?" he said, proving the point yet again.

"Let me handle this," Dyson quietly growled at his partner, who wisely finally caught the hint and shut up. That taken care of, the wolf turned his attention to the Ash and worked at pulling themselves out of the proverbial frying pan. "We tracked them by the license plate of the car the Fae used to go to work. While it appears she has the ability to step through doorways and disappear, the limit seems to be that she has to first visit that place in person. She had to drive to the hotel to get the day job in the first place. We tracked the car to a downtown diner and somehow she managed to elude us, unaffected by a siren's whistle, and disappeared through another doorway."

"This Fae is powerful," the Ash concluded, more contemplative than angry as before. "Now if only we knew whose side she was on. Why leave a kill out in the open like that, and then avoid us?"

There was a sudden commotion from the front atrium. Dyson and Hale shot to their feet and took up protective stances between the direction of the commotion and the Ash. The source was made self evident a human woman in a lab coat rushed in and on her heels the Morrigan strolled in with two behemoths at her side. The human, Doctor Lauren Lewis, spoke quickly and with no small amount of fear, "I'm sorry. It's the Morrigan, she insist on seeing you!"

"You are not invited," the Ash said to the Leader of the Dark with a pointed glare.

"I know, and I'm hurt," she replied, taking long steps, showing off her legs in her short dress in a primal display of power. "Cut the shit. Word has it somebody's kill was dumped improperly in your territory last night. And not by a local. It would be nice to know if we had a new player in town." She took a cursory stroll around the room before going back between her two bodyguards, standing across from the Ash.

"We're handling it," Dyson said.

"I don't speak to the help," she pointedly turned away from the wolf shifter, keeping her eyes mostly on her rival, the Ash. "So where is she? This... unknown that has so brazenly... skirted the rules?"

"We're handling it," Dyson repeated, with a bit more anger this time.

"Tell you what, why don't _we_ handle this one for you? Consider it a favor!" the Morrigan suggested with a very fake bright smile. "We'll have this little troublemaker taken care of and her head on a sterling silver platter for you by end of day. We may even interrogate her beforehand, just to see who really is to blame for this whole mess."

"Tell me," the Ash spoke softly, taking short steps toward her, "What might your response be if I had just made the same offer to you, had this happened in your territory?"

The Morrigan frowned, her hands on her hips as she stood before the taller Fae. The two leaders continued to glare at one another for up to a minute. Before anything could actually be said or done, to either escalate or minimize the sting of what had been said and done here, there was another interruption. This in the form of a nearby closet door, literally the nearest door to their physical location, slamming own, a familiar light shining out from within.

For just a moment, nobody moved, the Ash and the Morrigan continued to glare at one another, and then slowly, oddly in sync, the two turned to see what exactly was going on. It was only after this that their respective security forces got their proverbial asses in gear and quickly moved between the potential threat and those they were sworn to protect. At first there was just silence after the echo of the door banging open had faded, and then they all heard it together. The first steps were soft, but then louder as the person stepped through the open doorway and onto the hard marble floor, echoing with each step.

They all stared, a little stunned to see the tall, very attractive brunette step out from the 'closet' and shut the door behind her, the glow fading immediately. It was brazen, it was brash, and it was crazy, almost too crazy to believe, but there she was, the Fae that they'd just been talking about, walking into the heart of the Ash's compound, within reach of the Leaders of both Light and Dark, so far behind the layers of security they had erected to prevent just this sort of thing that it was not even remotely funny.

"So," Bo said, a smirk on her face as she spread her palms out to either side, "I hear you've been looking for me?"

_The Motel Room_

"This is such a bad idea," Kenzi said to herself as she looked over the Objects Bo had left behind. Her new BFF had given her the overview of each and what they did, also with the strict warning to basically leave them where they were and not to use them unless absolutely necessary. Except for the Key of course. On that front, she was to wait exactly two hours from the moment she'd left, and then use the Key to basically come and rescue her by going to the nearest door to Bo's physical location.

Fortunately, Kenzi's watch still worked, though her cell phone had like zero bars, so she was keeping a very close eye on the time. As for the Objects that Bo had taken with her, she had no idea what good they would do her, though thankfully they were the clothing Objects, so hopefully none of those that she was basically walking into the hands of would realize what they were until it was too late. Although, to be perfectly honest, Kenzi could not see what advantage the Coat, the Shirt, the Belt, or the Watch were going to be for her. From what she remembered, all they did was make changing clothes go faster, make everybody strip, make everything except Objects appear in black and white, and hard boil and egg!

She couldn't even use any of those combo tricks Bo had mentioned, as three of them alone weren't enough, and she'd left the Knife behind!

The only thing that Kenzi could do was to wait and trust in Bo.

One hour fifty-eight minutes and thirty seconds to go...

_Lauren's Lab_

These were not the people that Bo had thought they were. They weren't the government, at least not any acknowledged-by-the-UN government. They weren't the Order or the Legion or even the cops or any offshoot from any such organization. As far as she'd been able to see, and with the Belt she definitely was able to see for sure, they had no clue about the Objects and possessed none and had no interest in hers.

One thing is for sure, she surprised the hell out of them and rocked their world when she showed up in what was apparently supposed to be a secure stronghold. She'd half expected to be killed on the spot, by either the Latina lady in black, or the tall black guy in white. Though the guy that growled, moved as fast as she could and had animal eyes came close, it was clear that his leash was handled by the guy in white. Seeing the shorter guy that had been the source of the sonic attacks in the alley made her wish that she'd kept a hold of the Lighter, but she couldn't risk it, even now knowing that they knew nothing about the Objects. Just because they didn't know anything _now_ did not mean they couldn't learn and that would be bad for her. Very bad.

There was a lot of posturing, a whole lot of accusations, and pretty much everybody talking about things she didn't understand (not exactly a first, but still annoying) and assuming she was just lying to them because apparently they couldn't fathom the concept of her not knowing and not understanding what they were talking about. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed in the end, or cautious ones at least, and she was taken by the pretty blond in the lab coat to be "examined". Had to admit, she'd certainly been in worse situations.

"Please remove your clothing," the apparent doctor said to her in as clinical a voice as possible while saying those words. The doors had been shut and locked, but Bo wouldn't be surprised to learn there were guards just outside. At least they weren't sadistic perverts along with whatever they actually were.

"I'm not sure you want me to do that," Bo warned the fair haired doctor, but already removing the Coat and unbuckling the Belt so she could see everything in color again.

Rather than being offended, the cutest look of almost rabid curiosity crossed the woman's face. Then she asked the one question Bo thought she'd never be asked.

"Is there some part of your physiology that is dangerous to humans in some way? A pheromone scent? Poisoned quills? A prehensile tail or stinger?" she inquired, actually looking excited at the prospects.

"Uh, no," Bo answered with a very confused expression. She shrugged and said, "Don't say I didn't warn you. That's all I'm saying." She then proceeded with unbuttoning the top button of the Shirt.

Unconsciously, at the exact same moment, quickly and yet without hurry, Doctor Lewis removed her lab coat and stepped out of her shoes. Fortunately for Bo, she was a bit too engrossed in whatever she was filling out on that chart of hers to pay the proper kind of attention. The sexy keeper of the Key smirked and decided to enjoy the show while she could, stepping out of her own shoes as she unbuttoned the second on the Shirt. The human woman undid her pants and removed her blouse with one hand while the other kept writing. Bo paused and gave her time to work her way free of the silk material before going for the third button, which promised to make things... interesting.

Finally, after a rather extended striptease that made Bo a little worried she might be getting "_hungry_", but thankfully not, the very naked doctor began examining her from head to toe. Unfortunately, by 'examine' she meant in the very clinical and scientific definition. Not the 'fun' way.

"So what are you checking me for?" Bo asked as she felt the other woman's hand slowly trail down her back. If she wasn't so uptight, the brunette might suspect she was getting to the blond, but it was hard to tell.

"Brands," Lauren replied. "Ritual scarring. Different clans mark themselves in different ways." She shrugged, and then stared after looking her up and down once again. "My god, you're beautiful."

Blushing, she tried to back step a bit with her words. "I meant that professionally."

"It's cool," Bo said, offering a bit of an olive branch, "I, uh, I kind of have that effect on people."

"Ah ha! Well, that would fit my hypothesis on you," Lauren turned back around to face her, unconsciously showing off her rather attractive profile. How she'd ignored the fact that they were both sitting there, naked, Bo couldn't begin to guess.

"Oh?" she prompted the doctor to continue.

"Would you mind if I asked you some incredibly personal questions?"

Bo smiled, looking the blond hottie up and down a bit herself. "Well, all questions feel kind of personal when you're commando, but I'm cool with it if you are."

"Right," Lauren nodded and laughed along with her at the joke. "Sorry, you can, uh..." she gestured for the pile of Bo's clothing that had been kept nearby and always within sight.

"Thanks," she nodded. "You can too by the way."

"I can too what?" Lauren blinked, uncomprehending.

As she passed her on her way to her clothes, Bo not-subtly-at-all ran her hand, no seduction touch this time, along the side of Lauren's naked hips. She jumped and for the first time since entering the room, looked down at herself. "Oh, my, I, uh, I, well..." belatedly she tried covering herself.

"I did warn you," Bo said, reaching for her bra. "As for questions, I'll answer yours if you answer mine."

"Right," Lauren said as she raced about and got dressed in a hurry.

"What the hell were those freaks that I just met out there?" she asked as she dressed.

"They're Fae," Lauren answered amidst her own dressing, and watching Bo get dressed at the same time. "An evolutionary branch that predates modern humans."

"So am I Fae?" Bo asked, amazed to finally have answers to questions she'd had for years now.

"Yes," Lauren answered, putting her lab coat back on and then corrected herself with, "Well... that's your genus, not your species."

Turning back around, now pulling the Shirt back on but leaving it open for the moment, Bo approached Lauren and remarked, "And for those of us who flunked biology?"

"I meant," Lauren started to snap and then took a breath and forcefully smiled before continuing, "Fae is a general classification. There are many different types."

Bo nodded and then asked, "So what type are you?"

Smiling again, Lauren finished putting on her shoes as she answered, "The insatiably curious human doctor type." They both laughed again. "I'm in it for the science."

"Now for the million dollar question," Bo asked, buttoning the Shirt only to halfway, giving her ample cleavage and most of all keeping it's special effect from coming into play anytime soon. "What kind of Fae am I?"

"Ah, yes," Lauren nodded and walked over to a filing cabinet to retrieve a folder while letting Bo finish getting dressed. "I examined your kill from last night, and based on your feeding signature, you're..." she slowly trailed off.

Bo put the Coat back on and said, "Just say it."

Taking a breath, Lauren told her, "You're a succubus."

"A succubus?" Bo confirmed, not as freaked out as she'd expected to be. At least now she had a name for what she was, besides 'freak' that is. Still, that left her with some issues still to deal with and seeing that she had somebody who seemed to have the answers to most all her burning questions, she'd shoot for one more.

"Hmm," she mumbled as she walked over to stand in front of the doctor. "Can you fix it?"

"Well, there's nothing to fix," Lauren said with a wry shrug. "You're a perfect biological specimen of your kind."

"Who has a habit of waking up next to dead lovers," Bo pointed out, arms crossed. "I mean, if that's not sick, I would like a second opinion."

"We can help you learn to control it, if you'd like," Lauren offered.

"That's possible?" Bo asked, stunned.

"Definitely," Lauren answered immediately. "If you'd been born into a clan you would have been taught how by now. You'd still have to feed, but you wouldn't always have to kill. You deserve a normal life, and we can offer that to you."

Bo struggled, hard, not to roll her eyes, and asked, "What's the catch?"

"The Fae are divided," Lauren explained. "The Light, and the Dark. I'd presume they would want you to join one of them before they'd allow me to offer you much help."

Not saying a word, Bo slowly stepped forward and quietly took the doctor's hands in her own, this time most definitely using her seduction touch. Looking the blond in the eye, Bo huskily whispered to her, "I can offer you things. If we get outta here..."

"I know what you're doing," Lauren said, her eyes locked to Bo's lips.

Smiling, Bo resisted the urge to laugh out loud as she asked, "Do you want me to stop?"

Slowly, like she was in a hypnotic trance, Lauren shook her head and answered, "No."

Satisfied, Bo turned and keeping her hand in Lauren's lead the way to the lab's exit. Unfortunately, as she'd originally suspected, there were guards right outside the door. Mister tall, scraggly and wild was standing there waiting with the manacles. Behind her Lauren, embarrassed at being caught, quickly retrieved her hand and tried to straighten her clothes and lab coat, a deep blush coloring her cheeks.

"You didn't really think it would be that easy, did you?" Dyson asked the newly identified succubus.

"A girl can dream, can't she?" she shrugged, holding her hands out front willingly. Turning to Lauren, she quickly apologized. "Hey, sorry about that."

"No, it's good, uh, it was very informative," the flustered doctor nodded to her as Dyson lead her away. "Where are you taking her?"

"To the glass factory," he answered.

"Why?" Bo asked, looking for as much information as they were willing to give.

"It's neutral territory," he replied. "They're going to give her the Test," he said to Lauren.

"Without training?!" her eyes lit up in alarm. "That's madness!"

"It's not our call," he said, his voice filled with regret.

Without another word being said, Bo was taken out of the lab and carted off to the some nondescript van, and all the human doctor could do was watch on helplessly, afraid that it would be the last time she'd see the succubus alive.

_Glass Factory_

The rather rough trip aside, Bo found the experience rather enlightening, truth be told. Especially when she considered the fact that everybody around her was one of these Fae, just like her. It added a whole new paradigm to her world and if she did say so herself, she was handling it remarkably well.

Once at the factory, she was stuffed inside a windowless room and a very thick and locked door that she doubted she could get past even with Object-enhanced strength. Not two minutes after she'd been stuffed in there, however, that the door was opened and in walked a dangerous woman in a red dress. If she recalled it had been a black dress the first time they'd met, but apparently this Test was a big enough deal that it required a change of clothes into a whole new wardrobe, despite it not even been two hours since said first meeting.

The conversation they had, though a bit one-sided, was equally enlightening, but also pretty much set her against joining the Dark. She knew their type well enough, thank you very much, and she didn't like the prospect of having to watch her back all the time while constantly eyeballing everybody else's backs just to get a little bit of respect from her peers.

The Light, on the other hand, from everything she'd seen, stunk of the same hypocritical hoohah that the Legion preached about. There were undoubtedly some good people there among them, but the rules they lived by and what they did in the day to day would drive her mad enough that she'd go Dark just to spite them in the end. Again, not her cup of tea.

What was a real surprise though was wolf-boy, Dyson his name was, pulling her aside and basically making her feed off of him, and then he did what not even Joe could've done. He _stopped her_! Sure, he survived and all that, but Joe had survived her too, but he'd never _stopped_ her! Nobody had ever _stopped_ her before! Not to mention his chi; Wow. It was like, well, exactly what she'd said to him, like the 4th of July in her mouth and then pretty much all over!

She was more than a little tempted to go back in for seconds, but then her Test started in earnest.

They made her fight a troll, ie a frickin seven and a half foot guy that had more muscles than the last winner of the Mister Universe competition! Oh, and he had fangs and was at least as strong as her with the Socks on!

It was a tough fight. Not the toughest she'd ever had, (that still held top billing in her records by the fight with the last owner of the Eye, which was now safe back in the Collector's Vault), but she certainly worked up a sweat taking him down once and for all. Then the much tougher fight started when she was drawn into some kind of illusion world by a creepy old man that called himself a Pain Eater. If it hadn't been for Kenzi's timely arrival and shouted warning, who knows what would have happened. As it was, she tore herself free of the illusion and called for the Knife, which was dutifully thrown by her sidekick/partner/BFF and one twist later, the Pain Eater wasn't a problem anymore.

Then they had the gall to ask her to claim her side.

"NEITHER!" she screamed at them, to the loud disapproval of the gathered crowd. "I PICK HUMANS! Or if you _really_ want to push me, I'll just make my own side! So DON'T _PUSH_ ME!" she shouted down the boos and heckling until there was absolute silence at her second declaration.

Glaring at the guards holding her friend, she ordered, "Let her go." They released the human girl immediately. Bo nodded to her and with one final glare up at the viewing gallery, she shouted, "I was going to leave town after finding out who had targeted me. Now I think I'll stick around for a while. Learn what exactly it means to be one of you, one of the Fae. _IF_ I ever pick a side, you probably don't want to alienate me. I'll be leaving now. Nice to meet you all."

Her statement given, leaning on Kenzi for part of the way, they made for the nearest door and used the Key to get out of there as fast as they possibly could. From there, they returned to the Club House, where Bo finally caught up on her sleep and started making plans on what to do next. Kenzi, meanwhile tried to stop geeking out over everything she'd learned in the past twenty-four hours and how awesome her new best friend was!

She didn't exactly succeed, at first.

_Elsewhere_

He could feel it. The Key.

She'd been using it a lot recently. He'd warned her about that, but as he knew all too well, things happen.

He only hoped that it wasn't anything she couldn't handle on her own. He needed to figure this out before he could allow her to come close again. The last Occupant had somehow managed to figure out a way to keep other Objects away from him, and then choosing to allow certain ones close. Until he'd mastered this skill, he couldn't risk allowing _any_ of the Objects close.

That much had been easy to figure out at least. It kept Anna safe so long as they were in the same town, but it meant keeping Bo away from him too. At least until he learned how to let only specific Objects through the field he set up around himself.

Joe Miller fingered the Wedding Photo, which had been "replaced" by one of him and Bo, a fifteen year old Anna between them. She was nineteen now and away at college. Well, 'away' in the same town he stayed in. He had to keep her safe, even if she didn't know he was doing so. The Order had been hunting Anna ever since they discovered that he had become the Occupant, seeing her as his only one true weakness. And unfortunately, they were right. Until he'd met Bo.

When the Key had resurfaced, he'd quickly 'brought' it to him, and then given it to her. It took the heat off of Anna as no Object could approach him or his daughter so long as he didn't allow it. And though the Order had those that held and had never held any Objects, Bo managed to make enough of a distraction of herself that there hadn't been any attempts since shortly after she'd left.

Now it appeared that the Key had settled for a bit, though it was being used more than it had in months.

Joe put the Wedding Photo down and closed his eyes, focusing...

END


End file.
